All of New Jersey stayed orange on the COVID-19 activity map again this week, indicating that all 21 counties are experiencing “high” coronavirus levels for the third week in row.
However, four of the state’s six regions could turn red if their percentage of positive cases climbs above 20% and other health indicators remain at their current levels or higher, according to the data released by the state health department.
The four regions — the Northwest, Northeast, Central East and Southwest — currently have between 11% and 14% of coronavirus tests coming back positive.
The COVID-19 Activity Level Report map, which is released every Thursday, is being closely watched by school officials around the state because any regions that turn red will be required to close schools and switch to all-remote learning, according to school health guidelines. Red indicates virus activity in the region is “very high.”
Because every region is currently orange, schools statewide are being told to “consider” moving to all-remote learning. But they are not required to close their classrooms under the state guidelines.
The map breaks New Jersey into six regions and assigns them each a color: green (low), yellow (moderate), orange (high) or red (very high). The color is based on the on the COVID-19 Activity Level Index, or CALI, a score health officials give each region weekly based on health data.
The regions are:
-Northwest: Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren
-Northeast: Bergen, Essex, Hudson
-Central West: Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset
-Central East: Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Union
-Southwest: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem
-Southeast: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
The state Department of Health creates the weekly COVID-19 Activity Level Report using data about each region’s weekly coronavirus case rate, the percent of people who tested positive and the number of people reported with fever, cough and other symptoms that may be COVID-19.
The state’s COVID-19 activity map had been mostly yellow and green since May. But the state quickly turned orange in late November as virus levels began to rise across New Jersey.
This week’s map is based on data for the week ending Dec. 5, which included some of the post-Thanksgiving coronavirus tests for those exposed during the holiday.
The data shows the Southeast region of Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland counties and the Central West region of Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset have lowest COVID-19 activity in the state. But several of their numbers creeped higher this week, indicating virus activity is likely rising in the regions.
New Jersey calculates a COVID-19 Activity Level Index score weekly for each region of the state. For the week ending Dec. 5, all regions scored a 3, indicating "high" levels of the virus. The score is calculated with a formula that uses each region's case rate, percent of COVID-like illnesses reported and the percent of positive tests.
Gov. Phil Murphy has said he has no plans to call for a statewide shutdown of schools. Individual school districts can decide for themselves when and if to switch to remote learning or reopen for in-class learning.
At last count, 423 school districts were offering a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction, state education officials said Wednesday. Another 258 were all-remote and 87 were fully open for in-person classes. The remaining 43 districts were offering a combination of formats in different schools or grade levels.
Since the start of the school year, there have been a total of 88 outbreaks linked to in-school transmission involving at least 388 people, state officials said. The totals only include cases in which contact tracers determined students or school staff passed the virus to each other in the classroom or during academic activities.
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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.
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All of N.J. remains orange on new COVID-19 activity map. But these 4 regions inched closer to turning red. - NJ.com
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